A woman and her two children were held captive at gunpoint by seven masked robbers who decamped with Rs 1.5 lakh cash, 100gm gold jewellery, 1.5kg silver and an LCD television from the Durga Colony house in Focal Point on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday.

CCTV footage of the accused near Durga Colony, Focal Point area, in Ludhiana on Friday.(HT Photo)

A woman and her two children were held captive at gunpoint by seven masked robbers who decamped with Rs 1.5 lakh cash, 100gm gold jewellery, 1.5kg silver and an LCD television from the Durga Colony house in Focal Point on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday.

The woman, Sunita Goyal, and her two sons, 14-year-old Chirag and 10-year-old Dipanshu, were sleeping when the incident happened. Sunita’s husband Pankaj was in Delhi on business and had informed her that he will reach home at 1.30am.

The robbers were armed with pistols and sharp weapons. Sunita said they demanded Rs 5 lakh from her. When she told them that she did not have so much cash in the house, the robbers said, “Goyal da ghar hoye te cash na hoye, eh kivey ho sakda (We don’t believe that the Goyal family does not have cash in house)?”

Sunita with her husband after robbery in their house at Durga Colony, Focal Point area, in Ludhiana on Friday.
(HT Photo)

Sunita added that her husband Pankaj ran a ready-made garments shop in Focal Point area. She left the door of the lobby open for her husband and went to bed with her kids. The family resides on the first floor of the house. The ground floor is rented out to two families.

Sunita further said the robbers used a ladder to get inside the house from a vacant plot at around 12.45am. They woke her and the boys and held them captive for half an hour while they ransacked the house, she added.

“The robbers, who were conversing in Punjabi, asked me for money. When I denied, five of them went to the bedroom and ransacked cupboards. Two of them stayed with us pointing guns to our heads,” she said.

She added, “The robbers threatened us to keep quiet and fled with cash, gold jewellery, silver and an LCD television. After the robbers left, I sounded my husband who was already on his way home.”

The family belongs to Haryana. Pankaj Goyal’s father Narayan Parsad Goyal and two brothers Vajinder and Sunil also live in Ludhiana. Police post 250m from house The gang pulled off the daring robbery despite a police post being just 250m from the house. Police reached the spot and started an investigation on being informed. They scanned CCTV cameras installed in the area and saw the robbers crossing the street.

Sahnewal police registered a case of robbery against unidentified persons. Police suspect the hand of an acquaintance behind the robbery. They said the robbers had conducted a proper recce and knew beforehand that Pankaj will not be home. They were also aware that the family kept cash in the house.

Assistant commissioner of police Gurmeet Singh Kingra said the robbers were caught entering and fleeing the house on CCTV cameras. They were carrying a jewellery box and LCD television. Police are trying to identify them, he added.

Robbers parked vehicles near railway crossing.

While scanning CCTV footage, police also found that the robbers had walked the Goyal house. They said the robbers parked a car and a motorcycle near the railway crossing.